Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

“Customer service has no idea what they are doing, was with same company last year yet still asking for proof of no claims! Have rung them at least 5 times to inform them of this but never get the same person. My son has authorised me to speak for him but when I ring I get told they can't discuss it with me as I am not authorised! ( do they even log anything you tell them)! They have threatened to cancel my sons policy even though they have been notified that his no claims bonus is with them! Definately wouldn't recommend this company to anyone if you want to keep your sanity, so frustrating talking to the monkeys on the end of the line, would like to speak with organ grinder instead! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“These boxes are set up to make you fail, braking System is not just for erratic breaking if you are in heavy traffic which most uk roads are these days it will go against you stopping and starting with traffic flows, so basically you can't drive your car when there are other cars on the road, and doesn't matter how if a low percentage you use after 10pm even if it's an emergency you can forget it, your score does not improve as quickly as it declines, These boxes do not get any approvals from the government or DVLA they are set up to their own designs....., Be very careful!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“I am 18 years old and took the insurance policy out myself in November 2016 - unfortunately I had not read the reviews and went with this policy as I was fooled by the low prices. The initial payment of £290 and then monthly payments of £85 after that (for a year) seemed reasonable and affordable. I kept track of my driving on the app and within the first week my scores were 100-speed and 100-acceleration but had reduced to 0-braking and 0-time of day, this took my score down to 38? I'm not sure how they calculate that! They emailed me and rang me with cancellation threats and told me I needed to improve my score to 40 to keep my policy, I didn't understand how I could drive more carefully but I tried anyway.. My braking score went up to 10 (mostly due to slow driving and therefore rarely to use my brake) and they were happy with a score of 42. However it reduced again and this time they sent me an email (no call) with another threat to cancel my policy if it didn't improve, and then said they would cancel it at the end of January 2017, but obviously this would effect attempts to get insured elsewhere - therefore I was forced to cancel my policy. They have taken a total of £460 off me for 2 months and 4 days of insurance - the woman on the phone laughed when I said it was a good job they weren't charging to cancel my insurance as they'd only just charged me for another months insurance 5 days before I was forced to cancel! The SmartMiles box deducts your score no matter how well you drive, and although it shows your journey it does not show ur score for each journey, therefore they lack evidence in where they have reduced the score! I have spoken to family and friends who have also had 'black box' fitted in their car (some of whom drive a lot worse then I ever do!!) and they have never had a problem with their insurance, and they get a score for each journey! This company is out to scam young drivers and I only hope that people read these reviews and don't make the mistake I did!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Terrible terrible is all I can say. Sons braking score is 0 and my husband has driven the car and still the braking hasn't gone up. Plus he is goes out once after 10pm score drops but if he doesn't drive after 10pm for a week the score doesn't go up. I will be cancelling this tomorrow they don't care don't listen. Has anybody complained to any agencies. I feel strongly that this company need to stop ripping people off. I want to take it further. Any idea?”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Terrible terrible is all I can say. Sons braking score is 0 and my husband has driven the car and still the braking hasn't gone up. Plus he is goes out once after 10pm score drops but if he doesn't drive after 10pm for a week the score doesn't go up. I will be cancelling this tomorrow they don't care don't listen. Has anybody complained to any agencies. I feel strongly that this company need to stop ripping people off. I want to take it further. Any idea?”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Scam. Loads of hidden extras which they don' tell you. For example I asked for a new quote with a different excess and they said no as it was within 30 days of renewal. -charged over £100 to cancel -wasn't given a discount for good driving as it was clamied to”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Scam stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. Hastings Direct Smart Miles. My 19 year old son has had a black box for two years through Auto Saint Insurance, the first year as a learner driver and the 2nd year after he passed his test. For the two years his score was 95-100%, for his 3rd year we had a quotation from Auto Saint which was £1,000.00 more than the previous year as he was now in employment and not a student, giving a total quotation of £1,900.00. We thought this to be very expensive just because he is now in employment and shopped around. My husband had a quotation from Hastings Direct Smart Miles of £962.00, which we went ahead with. Within days of having the black box fitted he had a score of 100 for speeding, 0 on braking, 0 on acceleration and 0 for time of day. We also had a limit of 6,000 miles a year on the policy. On one day he drove the car out of the garage and parked up at the rear of our house some 100 yards and according to the black box it was a drive of 1 mile?? If the black box were to clock up this distance each time with simple movements of the car then the 6,000 mileage limited would soon diminish. After looking into the policy in more detail you are obviously deducted points for driving after 10.00 pm, which myself and my husband were not ha ppy about, WE ARE THE PARTENTS not the bloody insurance company and he is 19 years old not 9. If he wants to visit his friends or go out for a meal then that is his choice as to when he wants to come back home not some idiot sat behind a desk. My son was absolutely mortified with the scores and could not believe it, he telephoned Hastings Direct Smart Miles and complained and said that there must be a fault with the black box, as he was a very careful driver, the lady looked at the computer and said that she could not see a fault with the box and that he should leave a bigger distance between vehicles and not put your foot down so hard. My son is a very good driver (he says sorry when he goes in a pot hole) Then a couple of days later my husband receives an email to say that my sons score is below 40 and needs to be above 40 or the policy will be cancelled. We discussed the policy and decided to cancel the policy ourselves, for one my son does stay out occasionally after 10.00 pm therefore this will always affect his score and two we believe the box to be faulty and as they seem to believe it is not his score will be around 40 if not lower (hence they can cancel at any time). We felt that if Hastings cancel the policy then it will be harder to get insurance as you have now been refused insurance. It cost £210.00 for the black box, £45.00 cancellation fee and £47.00 for the 24 days of the policy, so for 24 days on cover it cost £302.43. Then to top it off my husband did the comparison website and found Hastings Direct - the price came up on screen for around £1400.00, so the next day he called them up to go through the policy and was quoted £1,200.00 which was even better, he said that that would be ok, Hastings gave him a reference number so that my husband could cancel with Hastings Direct Smart Miles first then call Hastings Direct back to arrange cover. He called them back and the lady went through the policy details with my husband and when they got to the employment the lady said student my husband said no he is employed and she said oh in that case the price is now £1600.00, my husband was absolutely fuming, he said that he had already spoken to a gentleman 15 minutes before and had confirmed our sons employment status as employed, she said that there was a mistake and the price was £1600.00, which as you can imagine my husband said forget it and asked for a complaints department. We never ever complain but to be honest this insurance lark is an absolute load of rubbish, they know you need insurance and just make up the figures to suit their pockets. This Company Hastings Direct Smart Miles and Hastings Direct are DISGUSTING and are clearly ripping off young vulnerable adults. Please DO NOT USE THEM. Pay that little bit extra and DO NOT be taken in by the cheaper quotation as you will end up paying for it in the long term. Happy and safe driving people.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Passed my test in October and immediately sat down with my dad to look for some insurance. He was very generous and offered to pay my first year. Went with smart miles as it came up cheapest on a compare website and also had the advantage of 'no curfew'. How wrong we were. After having the black box installed, the braking score never went off 0 in the 73 days I had the policy until it was CANCELLED due to low driver ratings which were clearly wrong. My dad was also insured on the car and drove it regularly, and we also made many trips together with me driving. My dad has over 30 years driving experience and drives all day for work- even his driving the car did not take the braking score off 0 nor did my dad feel my driving was anything but fine. The black box is Frankly a scam to get as much money as possible out of people by enticing them in with cheap insurance premiums and then cancelling their policy which incurs all sorts of costs. I will be taking this further and compiling a document which will be sent to all the relevant authorities to get this fraudulent company investigated. please NEVER give this company your time of day and certainly not your money!!!!! DISGUSTING”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Rubbish customer service. Also the box itself is a scam, no matter how good you drive you're guaranteed low score, would not recommend!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Rubbish customer service. Also the box itself is a scam, no matter how good you drive you're guaranteed low score, would not recommend!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“the whole company is a scam, they are doing this to take money on young people like myself.. I am 22 and this was my first insurance and I tried so hard to keep my score below 40 I didn't speed or drive after 10 (even though they say there is no curfew) and my score was on 39 for 3 weeks (funny how it needs to be over 40 to not be cancelled) they then told me they was cancelling my insurance and would be better for me to cancel it before they do to avoid future complications which I did and then got charged £40 for cancellation fee even though they have my £210 deposit!!!! its awful I would NOT advise to use this insurer!!!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“The box is murder to remove, I never even got any notification of my dashboard so have no idea how to log on & ive been driving for 1 year now. I have no idea ow the dashboard works. They refused to send me out anything to do with my policy & had to phone to get anything. Gladly changing insurance company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“I guess I could say that I am lucky my black box has not been rubbish like many other peoples, and I have been able to keep a consistently good score of around 80 (although I do not go out after 10 due to the fact it makes your score go so dramatically down). However after discovering a flat battery twice within the space of a week (when the battery was brand new!!) I got it checked out at the garage to find that it is the dodgy wiring of my black box that is causing a drain on the system. Hastings smart miles do not seem to care that they have a poorly trained mechanic, and have requested excessive amounts of paper work before they'll agree to send someone out to check it. I have complained and they still haven't got back to me two weeks later. I'm literally having to disconnect my battery every time I park to avoid it getting drained, and they don't care. Appalling!!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Currently on 2nd year of insurance with Hastings, as a young driver their cheap policies were obviously attractive. Literally the worst customer service ever, they have tried to cancel my policy a couple of time due to severe speeding , all 3 alerts were then revoked due to their malpractice and a faulty black box. The second time I got an email while in Switzerland with the car saying that my policy had been cancelled !!!! I am now in the middle of a fight with them about 2 more alleged recordings , there is never an offer of evidence or proof. Customer Services seem to have absolutely no idea what they are talking about or what to do. My driver rating is penalised heavily due to driving at night despite there being no curfew on the policy. I wish I had never taken a policy out with them, the cheaper price isn't worth the stress .”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“I took out a Hastings Direct Smartmiles policy in 2013 for my son who had passed his test. All great. No problems. Told all my friends how pleased I was. Then I took out a second policy on another car, for my daughter who had just passed her test in 2016. What a different story. Complete nightmare. They have changed their black box supplier. The black box in my daughter's car is obviously faulty as it is returning a score of 100 for acceleration and 0 for braking. Concerned that something was amiss, I have been driving the car for the past three months. My daughter has not driven it at all. I have 30 years experience and have been driving super-smoothly. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get customer services to send out a technician to check the box, but they refuse. They insisted I go through a complaints process - which has taken another two months - and ended up with them telling me that the data from the box is correct. I am a chartered electronics engineer, and I can tell you that the box is likely suffering from a calibration problem. If the braking was really that harsh, that would indicate an erratic driver - but with a score of 100 for acceleration, I don't think so. Every time I ask for data analysis, they refuse, and every time I ask to speak to a manager - someone who can actually do something -they are all too busy. So I just end up repeating myself to yet another call centre person who knows nothing about electronics or signals analysis. Safe to say, I will be cancelling this policy. And for good measure I will cancel the other one too. I want nothing more to do with this bunch of cowboys. It seems that customer service is not part of their company operating values. Will they miss my two policies? No I doubt it. There will be some other 'customer' out there. Absolutely shocking. I have gone from evangelising about Hastings to absolutely loathing them. Tell all your friends not to bother.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“My 19 year old son insured with Hastings and immediately got low scores for his driving. he scored 0 for acceleration even on days when I was driving and definitely don't use fast acceleration. The policy states there is no curfew, however we have discovered that you get marked down considerably for driving after 10pm making it impossible to keep your driving score above 40. He has been threatened with having his policy cancelled without refund. His previous insurer rated his driving as very good, so how could it change overnight! Do not use Hastings Smart Miles..”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“terrible company cancel your insurance with NO warning whatsoever and do it via royal mail so you get the letter too late, then the claim dangerous driving, even when I drive and I have been driving for many years the scores don't go down the box is rubbish they don't work and we have reported this to them and got no response. speeding was at 100% in the positive night time driving we lost 5 points because she came home at 10.01p.m. even though it is meant to be a non curfew box. Accelaration has stayed at 0 since day one but apperently the box is fine. So please think twice about parting with your money”

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Posted 8 years ago

“I urge people not to use this awful company. They lure you in with cheap premiums but the whole time they are looking to cancel your policy even though the box is ridiculously inaccurate and scores do not correspond to reality. Customer service is also a shambles they dismiss the facts as they are just after your money. Please do not take the gamble with your hard earned money and go elsewhere.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Everything I've read below is the same as my 19 year old daughters experience - low driving score, cancellation of her policy after 2 months driving when her previous insurer classes her as a good driver. Never was a problem with previous insurer even when having to drive for a night shift. The night shifts did make a slight difference to her scores but NEVER had low scores. Hastings Direct said she won't get penalised for late night driving and no curfew, but I beg to differ on that! Hastings Direct have said her scores were too low so breached her contract and now cancelling her policy after 2 months. It is a disgrace. We will be cancelling her policy and will NEVER even consider any companies associated with Hasting Direct Smartmiles. Complete rip off. Seems to me they don't even want to help young drives, once they say policy will be cancelled that's it they take your money for nothing!!!!! BEWARE, please do your research thoroughly and don't get caught out like many of us have. Lesson learned!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 72%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews